Saturday, July 27, 2013

A great article by John Robinson, of Sun News. He articulates everything that I have wanted to say on this subject.

In the US 36% of the 18 to 25 crowd has them and the square footage has been growing explosively.

Because these things did once express a genuine if regrettable individuality, people now embrace them as an expression of an originality they desperately seek but wouldn’t recognize if it walked up to them in a suit, tapped them on the shoulder and said “Od’s fish, that’s a sorry mess on your skin.”

"John Paul II asked that there be an international movement of prayer, He said "be not afraid to go out and pray in the streets. be not afraid to go where today's modern day Calvary is, where innocent blood is being shed. bring Christ at any time, shout it from the rooftops."

So I see ordinary people, doing ordinary things, with extraordinary results.

When you go to pray, yes we want to save babies. but they're not the ones most affected by the culture of death. the ones most affected, you see the child never did an evil in its life, there is no obstacle there to stop the child from going to God. Who is in danger? It's the people doing this, they need our presence, they are in darkness. they need the hope of Christ. you go for the people most affected by the culture of death, it's not the children, it's the parents, it's the politicians, it's the priests and bishops who are weak and are not speaking out.

Continue to give that public witness. What am I accomplishing? it's not you, it's God through you.

Overwhelmingly, young people are for life. how did this happen, the media hasn't changed. It's the little people. You go as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We are waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus continues to do his work now through his body the Church. We continue the work of Christ. And the work of Christ is, a world in darkness and broken needs a Saviour. When we go to the abortion clinics, you don't go there with judgmental attitudes. You go there with the unconditional love to those caught in this culture of darkness. They need hope, they need truth. God uses you, I see it all over the world.

They still don't allow us to pray in buildings, in schools. But they can't stop us out in the streets. Conversions keep taking place all over this country, all around the world. Jesus has risen, and His work continues through you. "

Friday, July 19, 2013

Prayers are asked for Thomas Peters, known as a blogger for American Papist. He broke his neck in a swimming accident a few days ago. His father is well known canon lawyer Ed Peters. Ed has asked that people pray for the intercession of Father Felix Capello. This is a priest about whom Ed has been doing research and Ed has asked that we all ask for Father Capello's intercession.

Ed is trusting that a miracle will take place, as what father wouldn't? Right now, Tom is on a breathing tube, he has his head stabilized in a halo. They are saying that he has some feeling in his legs, but not much use of his arms. He is able to sign responses, as he learned sign language because of his sister.

So please pray for Tom's full recovery. This is a very young man, newly married, no children yet. He works tirelessly for the faith. So storm heaven please!

Planned Parenthood has announced that it is closing its clinic in Bryan/College Station Texas. This was the site of the very first 40 Days for Life vigil. This is the clinic whose director had a dramatic conversion and left the abortion industry, becoming a major voice in the pro-life movement.

Since her leaving Planned Parenthood, Abby Johnson has started a ministry called And Then There Were None, a ministry whose purpose is to help abortion clinic workers leave their jobs, find new employment, and make the huge changes required in the new direction they have chosen.

If this can happen in Texas, it can happen here too. I look forward to seeing the results from this fall's vigil. As well as the vigil, there are going to be pro-life signs in a couple of places around the city. So the message will be seen in a few places. Although our efforts here in Canada are going to take longer to see results, those results will come. We can't remain in the disgraceful position we are currently in: one of three countries in the world where there are absolutely no protections for life in utero. The other two countries are China and North Korea. Not exactly the best company to keep when it comes to human rights.

HISTORIC ABORTION CENTER CLOSURE ANNOUNCED
Bryan/College Station, Texas -- The most significant
abortion center closure -- in the 40 years of legalized
abortion since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision
-- was made public today when Planned Parenthood Gulf
Coast, Inc. announced that it was shutting down its
abortion facility in Bryan/College Station, Texas after
fifteen tumultuous years in business.

In 2003, on the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, ABC's
Nightline spotlighted pro-life efforts in Bryan/College
Station and said the community was "shaping the abortion
debate" in America. Since that time, the local Planned
Parenthood abortion facility gained worldwide notoriety as:
* Site of the first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign in
2004, an effort that has since grown into a worldwide
pro-life mobilization of 575,000 volunteers in 501
cities around the globe; saving 7,536 babies from
abortion, closing 37 abortion centers, and helping 83
workers to quit their jobs in the abortion industry
* Place where former abortion center director and
Planned Parenthood employee of the year Abby Johnson
experienced a conversion, quit her job, and became an
outspoken pro-life advocate, going on to found And
Then There Were None, a new ministry which has since
helped 60 other workers to leave the abortion
industry over the last year
* Home of the Coalition for Life, the grassroots
organization which Planned Parenthood credited for
making the community "the most anti-choice place in
the nation" in which Planned Parenthood experienced
its "most consistent and active" opposition in the
nation

David Bereit, national director of 40 Days for Life,
said: "This is epic news fifteen years in the making!
Thousands of dedicated community members have faithfully
prayed and held peaceful vigils outside this abortion
center, offered hope and alternatives to turn away
prospective Planned Parenthood customers, and educated
the community about the harm of Planned Parenthood.
These efforts, combined with the decisive action of
the Texas legislature, have finally brought about this
closure that is an answer to prayer."

Shawn Carney, 40 Days for Life campaign director, said:
"As the birthplace of 40 Days for Life and the place
where Abby Johnson resigned after eight years working
for America's largest abortion chain, this is a huge
victory for the entire pro life movement! Peaceful and
prayerful local opposition to abortion is ending
abortion from the grassroots up."

Bobby Reynoso, executive director of the Coalition for
Life, said: "I was surprised when Abby Johnson walked
through our doors back in 2009, but today I am not.
Victories like these should be expected when a community
of faith stands up against the greatest injustice of the
day. How little was my faith then, but today I'm reminded
once again of how great a God we serve."

Abby Johnson, former Bryan/College Station Planned
Parenthood abortion center director and founder of And
Then There Were None, said: "This is what grace truly
looks like. Knowing that the former abortion clinic I
once ran is now closing is the biggest personal victory
of my life. From running that facility, to then advocating
for its closure, and now celebrating that dream ... it
shows that my life has indeed come full circle. I am
honored to have worked with so many who helped with my
conversion and the closure of this facility. We will
continue to fight until every abortion clinic in this
country has shut its doors."

Thursday, July 18, 2013

I was thrilled to read that Patricia Maloney, blogger at http://run-with-life.blogspot.ca/ is taking the Ontario government to court over their suppression of abortion statistics.

In March 2012, Maloney made a request to the Ontario Department of Health for some stats on abortions. I believe she was trying to determine if any babies were born alive after abortion attempts.

It was then that she was made aware that the government had amended the Freedom of Information Act to exempt abortion-related data. This isn't done in the case of any other surgical procedure.

Maloney has engaged a lawyer, Albertos Polizogopoulis, and is appealing that decision to the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

“As a blogger, Ms. Maloney benefits from the freedom of expression and freedom of the press guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” explains Polizogopoulos. “The Charter protects her right to comment on matters of public interest. The allocation of taxpayer funds for a medical procedure which remains the source of much controversy is certainly a matter of public interest and the suppression of that information cannot be justified in law.”

Isn't it great that bloggers can achieve results where the media won't dare or care to tread? I will be following this to see where it leads. Kudos to Patricia Maloney for her guts and for her political savvy.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Next time, someone brings up the issue of same sex marriage, try to remember this quote from Father Robert Barron.

Love means to want the good of the other and then to do something about it. What has happened today, though, is not the real value. What has happened today is toleration and inclusion. Real love means that you're not going to tolerate lots of things. Real love means you have to sometimes exclude certain things. What has happened is a dangerous conflation of toleration and inclusion with love. Now how dangerous is it? ... well, you might begin to see the devil himself as something beautiful and holy.

The blonde woman in the photo is Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood in the USA, and she is standing with a young woman who boasts of four generations of pro-choice women in her family. Does she not realise she is lucky to be alive?

The people we are dealing with are blind or misled. The spiritual forces we are dealing with are the darkest out there. We must remember to keep the two opponents separate, praying for the first and praying against the second.

Robin Marty of RH Reality Checktold me, “I do think there has been a significant shift…. There is a sense that abortion access could be changed forever.”

I think what we saw played out in Texas, including a propensity on the other side to throw feces and urine, is a sense of abortion doom. They realize they’re losing the unfettered freedom to kill preborn children.

I know that I put more links on this blog to US activity than to Canadian pro-life work. But then, what is there to show from Canada? Not much. Compared to our neighbours to the south, there is virtually nothing happening here.

We need to start talking, arguing, and praying about abortion in this county. Or we will be left in the dark ages, as more civilized nations come to their senses about this genocide of their own.

Friday, July 12, 2013

A bill to restrict abortions in the state of Texas passed the house yesterday and is scheduled for the Senate today.

An email from Students for Life America said that pro-choice supporters are rallying in great numbers and are ready to fight with pro-life supporters. Abby Johnson got a warning from some concerned abortion clinic workers that they have heard the pro-choice side is prepared to be violent, get arrested, and demonstrate in the gallery as well. Other reports say that they are planning to "flash" their female body parts from the gallery as a protest against the passing of this bill.

As Kristan Hawkins wrote in her email, this is a spiritual battle. The pro-life students have been barred from using showers at the YMCA in Austin, their bus broke down, one of their rental vehicles was hit, and some are ill. Lack of sleep and being outside for 12 hours in 100 degree heat is exhausting the ranks. But they intend to rally strong and stand outside the Senate until this bill is passed, something that Governor Rick Perry has promised.

The bill will ban abortions after 20 weeks in the state of Texas and will demand that all abortion clinics have access to hospital emergency care within 30 miles. This will effectively close down the majority of abortion clinics in the state, since they don't meet these requirements. Those who oppose the bill are defending abortion even if it endangers women's lives.

There will be a real showdown today and I find it particularly interesting that it is taking place in Texas, a real Bible belt state. The city of Austin is very liberal compared with the rest of Texas and the pro-choice supporters there today are not representative of the general Texas population.

I found a link to a webcam in the Senate in Austin. I will be checking back regularly to see if anything is streamed live; so far, only video from yesterday is available.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

A comment on yesterday's post (from my daughter, no less) deserves a response.
She states that she was fortunate to be able to go to university without her own or her parents' debt because tuition was half (father works at the university) and because she went to a university in her own city and could live at home. That is true and that does need to be clarified. Not everyone is so lucky.

What provoked my rant, if you can call it that, was the man I mentioned who re-mortgaged his house to pay for his son's education. What I didn't reveal is that this son is not terribly grateful for this, he doesn't have a clue what he wants to do for work, and he has spent a good part of his first year under the influence. That is wasted money in my opinion.

And another woman told me that her sister had just taken out a $25,000 loan to pay for her daughter's first year at St. Francis Xavier University, a campus notorious for its student night life, while the daughter could go to school here in Halifax, and also works at Old Navy. She doesn't contribute one cent towards her costs, but is allowed to spend all of the money she earns on herself. And the mother's remark to her sister is very telling: "I hope she doesn't spend this year just partying." This is completely counter-productive. What that mother is producing is a young woman with a sense of entitlement. If life is given to her like this at the age of 19, how can she possibly be expected to be a responsible adult by the age of 23? In order to have responsible kids, one has to actually give them responsibility in gradual doses so that they will be able to take it on.

The result is a generation with delayed maturity. Only in the western world do we have people in their 20's who are still behaving as if they are 15. In fact, elsewhere in the world, 15 year-olds aren't given such license.

Yes, many kids will need help to go to college and there are ways to help them without producing people who are not grateful or, worse still, feel entitled to these benefits. Perhaps it would be good for a lot of kids to spend a year doing some kind of service before they proceed to college, so that they will get some idea of how fortunate they are to have been born into a prosperous society.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Yesterday I had lunch with a young woman who works in campus ministry. She said several things that got me thinking. She has had eight years experience working with college-age young adults and now she trains young adults, about 22-23 years old, getting them ready to do this campus ministry as well.

She related to me that she really dislikes going on trips with the kids she works with. The reason in short: she doesn't have the patience to put up with the girls who seem to leave their brains at home. The guys go ahead and do stuff, making mistakes, and have to come back and repair the damage plus apologize. But the girls seem to be stuck in indecision mode. As she said, one girl couldn't even decide what colour of socks to wear, and another asked if there was any ice without even looking in the freezer to find it for herself.

What seems to be going on here is a complete lack of growing up. No wonder I don't find young adults showing up for the 40 Days vigil. If they can't pick what pair of socks to wear, how can they possibly decide to show up in public to oppose abortion?

What does this mean for their futures? and for our society's future? The prospect is frightening. How did we get here? My first thought is that we have spoiled our kids with so much stuff and with making so many decisions for them, that they can't do this stuff by themselves. So how long will it take for them to grow up?

Given the way our previous neighbour, a young man of about 30 years old, spent his Friday evenings playing video games with his male friends, and the fact that we never saw him spending any time with women of the same age, I think perhaps these guys are never going to grow up.

Have we created a generation of permanent children? If so, we have done them no favours. Parents, it's up to you. You can keep on giving your kids everything and making all their decisions for them, or you can help them to grow up.

One example: paying for your kids' education. Many parents think they should be footing the bill for university tuition. I even know one man who just re-mortgaged his house to pay for his son's college. This man is due to retire in two years time, how is he going to pay off that mortgage which is now at $200,000 for a house that would only sell for about $50,000 more than the sum he owes?

Why can't that kid work? My own kids had to pay their way through school. Our oldest daughter took a year off school and worked as a nanny so that she could pay for her education. She also won a scholarship. And you know what, she got a PhD in mathematics. Second daughter claimed that she wasn't going to go to university unless someone else paid for it. So she worked like stink in her final year and won a renewable scholarship so that her tuition and books for four years were all paid for. Daughter #3 also won that scholarship, but she decided that university was not for her and, after several years of looking around at her options including a professional music career, she became a Franciscan nun.

My husband and I could never afford to pay for their post-secondary education. And I am glad that we couldn't. Our inability to pay made our girls all figure out what they should do. They knew that getting an education was something they valued and they all knew that the kind of jobs they could get without an education were not the best option. So they knuckled down, studied hard, worked at part-time and summer jobs hard, and got where they did. And they deserve all the credit for that.

But you know, your kids will have strength and character if you provide the atmosphere in which those attributes can grow. Spoil them, give them everything, open all the doors for them, and you will wind up with kids who can't appreciate what you gave them. Work, in many senses, is its own reward.

Jill Stanek had an interview with Robin Marty, a political reporter for RH Reality Check. Marty is a pro-choice supporter.

“There’s no such thing as common ground,” Robin agreed, “when we believe this is a civil rights issue for women, and you believe it’s a civil rights issue for the unborn. I don’t think we will ever agree.”

If this is a stand-off between women's rights and the rights of the unborn, shouldn't the rights be equal? Granted being pregnant when you don't want to be is not a happy situation; however the inconvenience of those nine months can't be compared to the ending of a life. The woman will be pregnant for nine months; the baby is gone forever.

Ezra Levant has an ability to snoop out things that others overlook. Perhaps his suspicion will be proved correct on this one.

It's one thing for anonymous braggarts to make a claim online. It's another to build a blockade on the train tracks and put out a press release. But that's exactly what an extremist group in Maine did two weeks ago. They swore they'd stop trains of oil from North Dakota headed for Canada - just like the one that blew up in Lac-Megantic.

The group is called 350 Maine and they blockaded the railway into the dead of night, until police finally arrested six of them.

The actions of 350 Maine are part of a U.S. campaign that's called Fearless Summer. In Canada it's called Sovereignty Summer. Same tactics, same funders, same organizers. It's "direct action" against oil companies.

Their typical tactic is violence against property and defiance of police. An exploding fireball that kills people is not in their playbook. But what if some activist thought he was simply sabotaging a train to cause it to leak oil or to fall off the rails - no risk to life - but instead it accidentally went hurtling into a town to explode? That's the thing about industrial vandalism - it doesn't always go as planned.

Did some overly passionate Fearless Summer activist come up from Maine to finish the job? Did some of the activists from the Enbridge pumping station go to Quebec for a project? We don't know. Like Thomas Mulcair, we're still guessing. But it is a public fact that the oil industry is under attack both north and south of the border and anti-oil anarchists brag about sabotaging trains.

The question for Quebec investigators is whether they'll follow up with avowed, law-breaking enemies of oil trains - or just keep pretending they don't exist in a country as civilized as ours.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Pro-choice protesters in Texas (supporting Wendy Davis who filibustered the legislature for 12 hours to prevent the passing of some pro-life legislation) used kids to hold these signs.

Joe Scheidler of Pro Life Action League, a man who has been fighting for the rights of the unborn for decades, had this to say:

“With public opinion trending toward pro-life, with the explosion of legislation regulation abortion, and recent exposes on the horrific conditions in some of the abortion clinics, along with Planned Parenthood’s blatant deception, abortion proponents are in aggressive damage control mode,” Joe responded via email. “Not since the mid-90′s have we seen this kind of fear from the abortion crowd. Clearly they perceive us as effective.”

Many pro-life activists, along with Joe, think that "the pro-abortion bullies are on the defensive".
And the recent protests in Austin, Texas show a very nasty face of the pro-choice movement, with tattooed women caught on film trying to drown out Amazing Grace by shouting their slogans, and one even slurring Hail Satan to the camera. This certainly doesn't make them look good, especially when placed alongside the evidence from abortion clinics such as the one run by Kermit Gosnell.

Monday, July 1, 2013

This is about time. We don't hear much about abortions gone awry in Canada, probably because they are all paid for by our health care system, many are performed in hospitals, and those involved are all complicit in keeping any bad reports away from the public. If you don't think that is so, then please be aware that the province of Ontario will no longer give out abortion stats to the public. They have placed a gag order on the bureau of statistics.

What needs to be “demystified,” however, is not the killing of life in the womb, but Henry Morgentaler himself, who is bereft of any claim whatsoever to greatness. When the Crown initially raided Morgentaler’s illegal abortuary, a number of incriminating facts that were later presented as testimony in his trial were discovered: Morgentaler did not give the woman to be aborted any medical check-up or blood test prior to the abortion, and therefore was not certain that she was pregnant. He administered anesthesia without an anesthetist present and did not have resuscitation equipment. He reused inexpensive ($3.30) plastic Vacurettes, contrary to the manufacturer’s instructions. The aborted woman who was in the recovery room at the time of the raid ended up in Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal three days after her abortion, where doctors removed approximately one-third of a six-week fetus; she had cervical cuts and lacerations and infection was setting in.

Here in Halifax, the Morgentaler clinic was run by a doctor who performed abortions on Wednesdays only. One woman on whom he performed an abortion, was a nurse expecting her fourth child. She was allowed to leave the clinic on her own, and she got into a car crash that left her disabled and no longer able to work at her nursing job. The case was settled out of court, which is why you never hear about it.

Dr. Desrosiers stopped doing abortions in Halifax soon after, and the clinic closed because it simply didn't make enough money. At that point, the VG hospital had opened a clinic and was doing abortions five days per week, all paid by taxes.

A friend emailed me that it has come to her attention that there are quite a number of babies requiring foster homes. They are currently housed at the former Home for Coloured Children in Dartmouth Nova Scotia.

I had no idea that there was such a need for foster parents. Nor did I know that orphanages still seem to exist. I thought they had gone out years ago. But apparently not.

If you are interested, or if you know of someone who might be interested in fostering, please click on this link

There you can find a questionnaire to see if fostering is "right" for you. And then you can proceed if you feel led that way. Please be aware that the process takes some time (nine weeks is what I have been told) in order to clear criminal records and also to take a required course.